Ministers in America receive endless numbers of mailings from businesses of all sorts hoping to make a bit of money out of some service they want to provide to churches and the clergy. A good many are simply ridiculous. Some, however, are quite disturbing because of the nature of what they are selling. Businessmen tend to search out needs to fill, or at least whatever it is that large numbers of folk may think they need. Several mailings received this past year indicate that some entrepreneurs perceive a market to exist among the clergy for ready-made sermons.

Two such mailings are before us as we write. One man offers to provide the subscriber with all the makings of a sermon, rather like a cake or pudding mix in a box. All you do is mix and heat, and you have your sermon. For the harried preacher who doesn’t have even that much time, another firm will send the sermons all ready to take to the pulpit and serve. All at reasonable prices, too! To convince the doubting , sample materials are provided. As an enticement to the thrifty, bonus coupons are enclosed. To protect weaker brethren we shall give no further details. Our purpose in writing is to examine these materials to see what can be deduced from them with regard to preaching in America today.

Now the first thing to be deduced is that there must be a good many men in the pulpit today who lack an adequate training for their proper work. This, despite the proliferation of M.Div. degrees and scholarship in general! Such is the general ignorance or indifference regarding doctrine that anyone can use these sermons in any church. With regard to Biblical exegesis matters are just as bad. “The average pastor is not well equipped to deal with the latest scholarship available for exegesis.” So we are told; and the elementary nature of the “insights” offered in these materials suggests that the case may be even worse than is proposed. In fact, “the average pastor” evidently does not even know what is in his hymnbook. The same service that will furnish him with exegetical “insights” and homiletical “resources” also offers to send along a complete selection of hymns, introits, offertories, and doxologies.

A second great failing in these specimens of contemporary preaching is the artless dependence upon illustrations to do the work at hand. Illustrations seem to be the great thing nowadays. One service claims to provide

. . . a wealth of intelligent, fresh illustrative and background material every week-sharp, human interest material that hooks and holds attention.

Illustrative material sparkles with unusually-stated insights, literary references, anecdotes, from the amusing to the deeply moving—all skillfully selected and honed to the text and theme.

The samples included bear this out, at least as to the abundance of material provided. In thirteen paragraphs we are given twelve illustrations! Reference is made to a Hollywood movie, a French novel, and a Broadway musical. Here is a pearl snatched from the lips of an Episcopal bishop:

And oh, Lord, let us not be like porridge, stiff and hard to stir, but let us be like cornflakes, crisp and ready to serve.

All the more remarkable is this prayer, forasmuch as the man who offered it is said to have done so and lived.

Someone may say, what is wrong with these illustrations? In themselves, many things. The man who can describe the details of scenes from movies, or plots of novels, or else recite snatches of lyrics from the Broadway stage, shows plainly that he has not spent his time in the serious pursuits involved in preparation for the preaching of the Word of God. And if the preacher thus continually evidences that he spends a great deal of his time at the movies or reading novels, then the man in the pew must be confirmed in the belief that it is alright for him likewise to squander the precious stuff of life on these and similar pursuits. And likewise neglect the while to study and to pray!

Moreover to feature such things in a sermon surely caters to the desire for entertainment so increasingly evident in our churches today. We have no doubt that these illustrations “hook and hold” attention. So does the average television “sitcom” or “soap opera,” and for many of the same reasons.

But the most serious objection to be entered against these illustrations is the false concept of preaching which they pre-suppose. Clearly the purpose of sermons made from such material is psychological. The point is to get at the people where they live, get them to take a good look at themselves, and to feel good about what they see, and maybe even (for Jesus’ sake) try to do better. True preaching on the other hand is expository. The task at hand is to expound the Scriptures as given by God for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Illustrations (if used at all) should be used sparingly, and be drawn from sources appropriate to so serious a task. This is confirmed by every instance of apostolic preaching recorded in the Book of Acts.

A final deduction to be made from these materials is that there must be many ministers today who have lost sight of their true calling. The man who produces some of these materials was recently quoted in the press as saying that

Some ministers are running pre-schools, building campaigns, or are active in community affairs. There just isn’t enough time anymore for a clergyman to do an adequate job preparing a sermon.

Surely this man has put his finger on the problem. His solution is to aid and abet this criminal neglect of the great task to which every minister of the Word is called. The busy ministers may now get on with their preschools and community affairs secure in the knowledge that the makings of next Sunday’s sermons are in the mail. Far better would it be were these ministers to empty their hands of these little sidelines and devote themselves to the great apostolic labour of prayer and the ministry of the Word. By no other means will the day dawn among us when the Gospel shall be preached “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”.

Reprinted from the May 1986 Banner of Truth. Rev. Ray B. Lanning is pastor of the Bethel Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.